Civil servants face bleak Xmas over unpaid salaries

Some federal and state workers face bleak Christmas as they are being owed October and November salaries.

The possibility of many state government workers receiving their December salaries before Christmas is also grim.

Our correspondents on Thursday learnt that federal and state agencies that managed to pay salaries of their workers were still owing pensioners.

Findings revealed on Thursday that the latest drop in oil revenue has taken a further toll on the nation’s economy. Nigeria   witnessed a decline of N36.6bn in gross revenue from N536.69bn received in the month of October to N500.07bn in November.

The figures were contained in a communiqué issued on Tuesday shortly after the Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting which was presided over by the Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda.

The communiqué attributed the decline in revenue to drastic drop of 33 per cent in export volume between September and October 2014 and a further drop in crude oil price from $87.78 in October.

Figures obtained from the website of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Tuesday put the price of crude oil at $57.92 per barrel.

Findings by The PUNCH showed that the delay in paying salaries might not be unconnected with the shortfall in government oil revenue.

Following the failure of the Federal Government to pay some of its workers, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, said it would ask its members to embark on a nationwide strike if the Federal Government failed to pay the October and November salary arrears.

While calling on government to use the N9.2bn earmarked to buy stoves for “rural women” to offset the October and November salaries as well as that of December, the ASCSN urged the government to pay the affected workers before Christmas or “face the wrath of Nigerian workers.”

The Secretary-General of ASSCN, Mr. Alade Lawal, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, expressed sadness that the Federal Government had not been able to pay thousands of civil servants for almost three months.

He said, “As we write, information reaching us from informed quarters indicate that about 30 Ministries, Departments and Agencies will not pay December 2014 salaries to their employees.

“It is very unfortunate that since October 2014, the Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Works, Labour and Productivity as well as a host of other MDAs have not paid salaries to their workers.”

The ASCSN lamented that the reality on the ground was that “thousands of civil servants and their dependants would celebrate the Christmas and New Year in sorrow.”

The   union therefore called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter and ensure that civil servants were paid three-month salaries before the Yuletide so as to put smile on their faces.

“We cannot understand how N9.2bn would be spent on stoves while workers who toil daily to keep the wheels of government functioning cannot be paid their meagre salaries”, the ASCSN stated.

The group recalled that last year, more than 40 MDAs did not pay December salaries to their workers, adding that when the matter was tabled before the government, its officials were quick to deny it.

This prompted ASSCN to publish the names of the MDAs that were involved in the non-payment of salaries.

According to the ASCSN, based on the sad experience of last year, “one would have expected that serious steps would have been taken to ensure that the ugly scenario did not repeat itself.”

“Unfortunately, we are now back to square one. Workers, to say the least, are very sad as they can no longer meet their immediate needs as a result of refusal of government to pay them their salaries,” the ASCSN stated.

When contacted, the Special Adviser, Communication to the Minister of Finance,   Paul Nwabuikwu, promised to get back to our correspondent on the matter.

He later issued a statement in which he claimed that overwhelming majority of civil servants were getting their salaries regularly.

He blamed the delay in the payment of others on a “technical glitch” and some MDAs.

Nwabuikwu said, “The true situation, as stated by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy(Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during the presentation of the 2015 budget proposal yesterday (Wednesday) is that there was a delay in paying the salaries of some civil servants in some ministries due to a technical glitch which affected the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System through which payments are made.

“Delays were also caused by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies using money set aside for salaries to pay allowances without consultation with the Budget Office.

“As CME has promised, the issues are being resolved and all civil servants will be paid their salaries before the end of December.”

He accused those behind the claims of non-payment of salaries as being a tool of political groups ready to deploy “scurrilous falsehood against the policies and programmes of the Federal Government.”

In Ogun State, civil servants have demanded the regular payment of their monthly salaries as opposed to current staggered mode of payments.

The state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Ambali Akeem, who spoke for the workers,   in Abeokuta, said the government which claimed to be generating N6bn internally should be paying workers promptly.

Investigations revealed that workers were paid in batches, starting with those at the lower cadre.

This mode of payment it was gathered, started in October when some cadres got their salaries on   November 15.

One of the workers, who spoke with The PUNCH said, “Some of us have yet to get our November salaries as of today(Thursday).”

Akeem said since some of the workers had yet to be paid their November salaries, the hope of getting those of December   appeared dim.

He said, “Our monthly salary bill is about N2.5bn. So, if the government as of the last two weeks hinted that the Internally Generated Revenue had hit N6bn, then, what is the rationale behind the non- payment of the November salaries of some workers in the state?

“There is no hope of December salaries. Workers are being thrown into a state of confusion. It is unjustifiable and we demand urgent attention.

“Maybe some people are trying to mislead the governor. It is good to do infrastructure developments, but, where there is no human capital development, there cannot be happy civil servants.’’

Also, Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Ogun State chapter, condemned the practice.

The association, an affiliate of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, raised eyebrows over the development in a statement by its Secretary, Adebiyi Olusegun.

It said, “The now familiar selective payment system embraced by the state government where public workers get their legitimate earning long behind due date and the payment in haphazard mode is totally unbelievable and unacceptable.”

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Yusuph Olaniyonu, said the staggered payment of salaries would soon be over.

“It will soon be over. We will pay everybody. It is not as tough as you people (journalists) are making it look,” he said.

The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers in Osun State, Mr. Amuda Wakeel, told one of our correspondents on the telephone that teachers in primary schools were being owed November and December salaries while their counterparts in secondary schools are owed three months.

But the Media Aide to the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said that it would be mischievous for any worker to claim that the government was owing December salaries.

He said that the government was owing November salaries and was doing everything to ensure that   workers were paid soon.

Okanlawon said, “Can anybody justify the claim that they are being owed December salaries. Everybody knows the situation of things with the federal allocation.

“This issue of allocation is not peculiar to Osun State. This is a state where government places utmost priority on workers’ welfare. This government introduced 13th month salary for workers among other things.”

In Kogi State, local government workers have not been receiving their full salaries since last year allegedly because of the dwindling revenue.

One of our correspondents gathered that the local government   workers had been receiving part of their salaries since last year.

In Bayelsa State, pensioners have protested the non-payment of their pensions and other entitlements by the government.

The pensioners, under the auspices of Nigerian Union of Pensioners,   had accused Governor Seriake Dickson of lacking respect for the elderly and deliberately withholding their pensions.

During the protest, the pensioners also accused the government of tying down their N250m monthly payment.

They also said the governor had refused to comply with his promise to release N300m every month to them.